


It Gets Better (Trust Me)

by NoHomoTho



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, Healing, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung-centric, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, References to Drugs, Romance, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Substance Abuse, Texting, getting better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22663849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoHomoTho/pseuds/NoHomoTho
Summary: Dongyoung is a year, seven months, and twenty-one days sober. He used to have is life in order, but then he fucked up, big time. But it's okay, because he is working hard to get better again and leave his past behind. He tries not to think too hard about what could've happened to him if he didn't mess up, but when his old friends want to meet up that plan goes out of the window. Add to the eqation one Jung Yoonoh, a new roommate and the hottest man alive, and the fact that Dongyoung is still working hard to not fall back into old patterns and you get chaos (which is the last thing he needs).
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Lee Taeyong/Qian Kun, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	It Gets Better (Trust Me)

**Author's Note:**

> I aged up all the characters??? Because I needed the 95/96 liners to be a little older so Doyoung and the others would have time to do all the things I said they did??? I guess that means story is set in 2022 or 2023 or something. Doyoung is around 26 or so? And The 00 liners are fresh out of college. So calculate their ages accordingly.  
> Also, for some reason they're all American??? I'm sorry I just needed them to not have to join the army and for Doyoung not to go to jail for using drugs. Because of that everyone can speak English, and non-Korean members can't speak Korean but can speak their actual native languages. Some better in it then others, so be prepared for random "my Korean/Chinese/whatever suck" from members who we all know are fluent in that language.  
> And last thing!!!!!!! I do not encourage any use of drugs or alcohol or want them to be seen as a solution for your problems, but I also don't mean to say that you can't use them without becoming an addict and ruining your life!!! And self-harm IS NEVER OKAY, if you feel like it is PLEASE TALK TO SOMEBODY AND GET HELP!!! That's it, enjoy

Dongyoung is a year, seven months and twenty-one days sober. That's a lot, considering before that, the longest he stayed sober was two and a half months, and it was because he was hospitalized and supervised for the whole time. The first thing that he did when he got out was get blackout drunk, take all the drugs he possibly could and cut himself. Probably in that order, but he's not so sure. Drugs can fuck up your brain, who would've guessed.

Anyways, Dongyoung is a year, seven months and twenty-one days sober, and a year, four months and six days clean of self-harming. Which is also a major achievement. Sometimes, when he has a good enough day, he feels happy he got to that point, proud, even. Usually, though, he just feels like crap and wishes to be dead. But hey, he's not acting on it! Which, according to his therapist, is fantastic. His therapist uses the word "fantastic" a lot, which is both cringe-worthy and reminds Dongyoung of his old friends, but he still haven't mastered up the courage to let Junmyeon (his therapist, that is) that it's making him uncomfortable. But that's not what's important. The important thing that Dongyoung is, technically speaking, fine. He is no longer doing drugs, he stopped self-harming, he has friends that aren't suicidal drug addicts, a stable job that he actually goes to and doesn't hate, he goes to his AA meetings and therapy sessions, gets regular exercise and goes outside to the sun, he eats three meals a day and drinks plenty of water… He puts a lot of effort into getting better, and for the most parts it works.

It was during senior year of college when his drug problem became, well, a problem. Everybody smoked some pot every now and then, he and his friends weren't different. But senior year wasn't really easy for him, to say the least, and all the stress and the anxiety finally got to him. Suddenly, drugs became a solution to all his problems, and then a way to cope, and then a thing that keeps him alive and can not be stopped. He then fell deeper and deeper into that shit hole, depressed and anxious every time he wasn't high, needing more and stronger drugs. He managed to graduate, though only barely, but that didn't make him any less depended on the ecstatic feeling of high, or his depression any better. In fact, no longer being surrounded by his concerned and supportive friends made him fall deeper and deeper, losing himself and any good things in his life, until everything was just a big blur of depression and blood and little pills and injections and high and everything was so loud and bright and ugly and he needed to be gone and he needed to forget and he needed to-

Dongyoung had four near death experiences. The first time he overdosed (by accident, he swears), he doesn't remember how he ended up in the hospital but waking up was not a nice surprise. The second time he did try to kill himself, his roommate at the time finding him bleeding in the bathroom. He was hospitalized for two months and a half – again, the longest he'd been sober – before they allowed him to leave. A year later he purposely overdosed, though he did lie saying it was an accident after his roommate (a different one, obviously. Who would keep rooming with a person after seeing them like this?) brought him to the hospital. His last near-death experience was also an intended overdoes. His roommate, surprisingly, the same one as before, found him again. This time, when he lied and said it was an accident, Yuta loudly called bull and demanded him getting treated. 

("All he does is cut himself, get high, and cut himself while high," he said loudly, "isn't it somewhat concerning? Why do you keep letting him go – he is clearly not okay! Can't you forcefully admit him or something? You, shut up," he turned to Dongyoung who started objecting "If you let him leave, he's just going to do it again. He needs to get help, now. In fact, he needed to get help years ago. This man," he pointed at Dongyoung, "is suicidal. More than that, he treats his depression with drugs. So, you will get him into a rehab program, or a therapist, or whatever, but you will get him help!" And then he breathed deeply and turned to look at Dongyoung. "And you! You will go to a shrink and you will go to rehab and you will try to get better. This isn't a request; I am telling you that you are going to get help. Now, is anyone going to call your psychiatric department, or do I need to go there myself?")

And Dongyoung really had no choice. Yuta was scary, and he made people listen to him. He didn't ask Dongyoung before signing him into a rehab program, or when he throw away any sharp object in the house, all the drugs Dongyoung had left and wouldn't let anyone enter the house with so much as a beer. And Yuta was there for him, like nobody had in years. He was there to hold him one anxiety attack after the other, hug him every time he collapsed in a need of drugs, remind him of all that is good when being alive was too hard. He visited him when Dongyoung was admitted and made sure to spend time with him even after. Yuta was the one to get Dongyoung his job in the department store, he asked Dongyoung to exercise with him, and went to eat with him every day, three times a day. Because Yuta was a literal angel, and Dongyoung was plenty thankful for him.  
Even after Dongyoung got his shit together and started getting out of bed and going to work without being forced to, eating and showering and going out even when Yuta wasn't there to remind him, Yuta stayed his friend. It was somewhat comforting, knowing that Yuta didn't see him as just a charity project, but as an actual person and a good friend. He even introduced him to Sicheng, his boyfriend, and his other friends. And they were fine, they were nice and accepting and nothing like the people Dongyoung grow used to. There were also the kids – not really kids, if he's being honest – fresh out of college, not yet part of the adult life but no longer kids, looking to get their lives together and yet not quite ready for the responsibility of it. They were all job hunting, working part time just until they manage to get an internship for a "real job". There was something refreshing about hanging out with them. When he was their age, he spent all his time chasing the high, only thinking about the next does and not about the future. They talked to him about jobs and houses, the concept of getting married and having kids, they wanted to talk about the future – and for the first time in years, Dongyoung did, too.

So now he had friends. Or at least, people he talked to and spent some of his time with, which was good enough. But the point is, Dongyoung had to get new friends. None of the people in his life, not Yuta's friends or the kids, knew him before he started recovering and getting his life in order again. They didn't know old him – who studied engineering in a good college, with upcoming internships and job offers, they didn't know the man who used to be pointed at as people asked "Why can't you be more like Dongyoung? Why can't you be as studious or responsible like him? He is going to be successful in the future, why aren't you?" They also didn't know drug addict, depressed and good for nothing him (although some of them knew that he "made some mistakes along the way") but that was besides the point, the thing was – none of Dongyoung's old friends stayed in touch with him. He stopped talking to them right after college, right before his life became an endless circle of drugs and self-harm. He was the one cutting them off and he was the one choosing not to reach out to them again after getting better. He wanted a fresh start, with new people and new goals.

Which is why the last thing he expected was getting a text from one Johnny Seo, after about four years since they stopped talking, at 10:47am on a Monday as he's on his way to his shift. He didn't even have Johnny's number saved anymore, and he stopped thinking about him a while ago. So as he checked his phone for the unexpected massage, he wouldn't be exaggerating if he'll say he nearly had a heart attack after reading the text.

**hi! it's Johnny seo? from uni?  
i know it's kinda random but ten and I were thinking about having a little reunion? of the old gang, you know?  
like, you, taeyong, kun, ten and i? maybe taeil also?  
that cool?**


End file.
